


Zoom: the Ghost of Westallen Christmas

by tyrionlannistre



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 09:13:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5534324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tyrionlannistre/pseuds/tyrionlannistre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"And I’d choose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I’d find you and I’d choose you."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Zoom: the Ghost of Westallen Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> P.S. Let’s pretend that the E-2 stuff is taking place during Christmas, for the theme’s sake. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

He can’t remember how he got to the precinct. One minute he was on a date, and the next, he was chasing Zoom around Central City. 

_You’ll have to run faster if you want to catch me_ , Zoom had said. So Barry ran. He ran until it was a blur, a light, and then black; like he was floating in nothing before he landed solidly on his feet. It had somehow led him to Joe’s desk, where his placard shines proudly on display.

“Barry?” 

Barry’s head whips around, and he’s a little dumbfounded to find Iris standing on the other side of the room with her hands crossed over her chest, brows furrowed in confusion. 

“Iris?” 

Her frown deepens to a scowl as she makes her way to him. “As long as I’m on the clock, that’s Detective West-Allen to you.” 

“Detective - ?” Barry’s eyes drop to her badge, the same print gleaming as it does on the desk. And Iris is in uniform, the very uniform he knows she dreamed to ends about. He does a quick scan around him: the precinct looks the exact same, except that he recognizes no one. 

They’re strangers, all but Iris who sighs and rubs her temple. “What are you doing here?” 

“What am I - what are _you_ doing here?” Barry gapes at her. 

“Look, Bear. I know I said I’d be off on Christmas, but Snart called out sick because his father is in the hospital, and you know Jay has been MIA for however many weeks now,” Iris explains. Barry can barely ask the first of a million questions that pop into his head before she adds, “But as soon as I get home, I’m yours, alright?” 

He feels a little faint suddenly, and surely not from how striking Iris looks in all black, gun and badge hanging off her hips. _  
_

_Jay has been MIA.  
_

Earth 2 - Zoom must have brought him to Earth 2. Barry thinks his knees might give out from under him, but Iris steps closer and inspects his face. She takes him in, her eyes sharp and scrutinizing. She must know that he isn’t Earth 2′s Barry. But he can’t care that she possibly knows when her badge is more distracting; Iris West-Allen. Married, they’re _married_.

He feels lightheaded again. 

“Where are your glasses?” Iris asks. _Glasses?_ Barry tries not to show his panic and pats his pockets in hopes of finding a pair of glasses somewhere, anywhere. They do, in his pocket square. He has a _pocket square and glasses._ Iris seems to mind little, though, because she hums in satisfaction when he puts them on. 

“That’s better,” Iris says, tucking her fingers under his chin. He is completely unprepared for the way she pulls him down, her lips meeting his in a kiss that really does make his knees weak this time. She parts looking more poised than he does. “If only you were wearing that bowtie I got you, too.”

Barry doesn’t particularly like bowties, but he knows he’d wear one every day if Iris got it for him.

A movement over Iris’s shoulder startles his thoughts. Zoom is watching him, that same daunting smile stretching over his cowl, challenging Barry to catch him. Then he’s gone in a whirl of blue and black.

Iris tugs on his chin, bringing Barry’s attention back to her. “Barry, what’s wrong?” Her eyes read him too clearly, and if she’s anything like his Iris back home, she’ll recognize a lie instantly. 

It seems crueler than any physical harm Zoom could ever do to him; to get Iris and lose her as fast. How many years has he spent wanting her affection the way he has it now? The nights he spent across the hall from her, talking himself into confessing everything; the number of times he offered his shoulder to her when she had her heartbroken again, and again, hoping that maybe the next time she’d see there is at least one person who would never hurt her; when he told her he was in love with her and watched her love another man instead; every girl he was with, the Becky’s and Linda’s and Patty’s, and imagining it would be Iris in her place.

It’s with reluctance that Barry peels himself from Iris, with a gentle kiss to her palm. “I have to go.”

Iris calls after him, and it’s instinct to turn around and answer to her, but he forces himself not to. Otherwise, he might never leave. 

*

Barry is becoming too familiar with having a gun pointed at him. It’s unnerving, though, to have Iris on the other side of it. She looks sure and comfortable, steady with a pistol aimed at eye-level. 

“So you found me again, Allen,” she says, smirking. “Or would you prefer I call you the Flash instead?” 

“Iris, put the gun down.” He doesn’t know where Zoom has brought him to now, but she seems familiar enough with him, even if she is a little different. Red streaks in her hair. Dark lips and darker eyes. Dressed to her feet in a leather ensemble that Laurel Lance would be proud of. 

Iris quirks a brow at him, her smirk stretching into a daring smile. “Oh, don’t get soft on me. We’ve come to far, have too much _history_.” 

There is a curiosity there, and Barry wants to know how they ended up on opposite sides of the law. The Iris West he knows is courageous and judicious to a near fault. Did he push her away? Or was it Joe? 

“Let’s get this show on the road, shall we? I have holidays plans to attend to,” Iris clicks her tongue. “You play hero, I shoot you. The dance is well-rehearsed, right?”

Barry is taken aback. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“C’mon, hit me already,” she growls. He hears a dispatcher near by - _We lost eyes on her. The Flash is searching the city_ \- as thinks to plead for cooperation when Iris takes steps forward until she’s in his face. He sees her gaze drop to his lips, over his nose and eyes, and Barry has to resist from leaning into her. He hears the safety clock of her gun, the tip resting heavy under his chin. “I said, _hit me_.” 

Barry swallows the thick knot in his throat. Surely she wouldn’t, but if she did... “I’d let you put a hundred bullets in me rather than allow myself to hurt you.” 

Whether she chooses to pull the trigger or not, he means it. Her eyes don’t leave his, and Barry knows Iris well enough through every spectrum of the universe to recognize that she believes as much. 

“Dammit, Barry,” she mutters, pushing him away. 

He sees Zoom, then, on top of the building beside them. He zips to the next building, and the next, and Barry curses. Another chase. “Stay out of trouble.” His words probably fall on deaf ears.

“This isn’t over!” Iris shouts after him. And she’s right - it’s never is with them, is it?

*

The park is a worrisome setting; there are kids and families everywhere, and Barry really hopes that Zoom isn’t using them as bait. He’s on alert, scanning left and right for signs of Zoom. 

A boy is running straight towards him, squinting up once Barry shadows over him. “You look lost, mister.” In his features, the kid resembles someone he knows; the lines of his nose and the almond shapes of his eyes, and the curve of his mouth that Barry has seen before.

Barry shifts, unsure about what he’s supposed to say. He scratches absently at his neck. “I’m, uh, on the lookout. For bad guys.” 

“Oh, wow! Can I be on the lookout too? Please? Can I? Please, sir? _Pleeeeeease_?” the kid bounces in excitement, from one leg to another, again reminding him of _someone_. 

“Er - ”

“Don West, you get back here this instant!” _Iris_. She appears before him, a little short on breath and looking cross at the boy. The boy kicks his feet in shame, lowering his eyes with an apology. 

“Sorry, mom,” he mumbles. “But I was looking for bad guys with Mr. - ”

Barry misses his cue, focusing on Iris instead. She’s a _mother_ , and motherhood seems to agree with her because she’s breathtaking, beautiful, stunning in a way that has him embarrassingly at a loss for words. 

He can tell from the pinch of her cheek that Iris is biting back a smile. “Mr. - ?” 

“Barry. Allen, Barry. Barry Allen.” _Smooth, Barry. Real smooth_ , he internally winces, maybe outwardly too from Iris’s growing smile. 

“Mr. Barry Allen, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Iris West,” she says, extending her hand for a shake. He wants to say _I know,_ but they’re clearly strangers in this world. He goes in for the shake, and perhaps he holds onto her hand a minute or two longer than intends. 

Don sighs exasperated, throwing his arms in the air. “Get married. It’ll last longer.”

“ _Don!”  
_

“Can I _please_ be on the lookout with Mr. Barry?” 

“We’re having Christmas dinner with your Grandpa Joe and sister in an hour. We’ll be late.”

It’s easy, for a moment, to fall into this normal lifestyle; Iris, kids, the park, a family banter - no reminder of what Barry’s life really is. And as simply as he’s been given a taste of it, he’s forced to let it go when he sees Zoom by a far tree, waiting for him again. 

Barry kneels to Don’s height, ruffling his hair to wipe the pout off his face. “Listen to your mother, Don. I have a feeling there will be plenty of other times for us to hangout.” 

“Really?” Don peeks up from under his lids. 

Barry pulls from his wallet an old pin from CCPD and ties it to Don’s shirt. “You can give that back to me the next time I see, you okay? Now I have to go and catch the real bad guys, okay?” 

Don bounces in that same contagious excitement, already starting to run in the direction he came from. Iris gives him a grateful smile that Barry returns. 

“I hope you plan on making good on your promise. Don and I would both love to see you again,” she says. It makes it that much harder to watch her follow after her son and not follow too. 

*

“There you are, Barry.” 

Of all the things he was preparing himself for, his mother did not make the list. She’s standing in the kitchen of their old house, dressed in her favorite reindeer sweater he remembers vividly, and taking a ham out of the oven. 

“Mom?” It comes out softer than a whisper that she barely acknowledges, only smiles over her shoulder and nods him into the dining room. 

Barry had made peace with her death, said the goodbyes he needed to and learned to move on from it. Months ago, he would have sacrificed a lifetime to get another day with his mother, but now... He doesn’t want to be reminded of what he could have had. Worse, still, is his dad greeting him at the head of the table, looking significantly younger and healthier than the condition prison had left him in. “You could have dressed for the occasion, son.” 

It would be embarrassing under different circumstances that his parents are in matching Christmas sweaters, but he can’t help but appreciate the sight of them.

Barry has to blink back tears and laugh. “I think I outgrew mine.” 

“No worries. I bought you one because I _knew_ you’d forget, Bear,” Iris says, turning the corner of the room with probably the ugliest sweater he’s seen in a while. 

She forces him into it, with the encouragement of his mom - two women he knows he could never refuse - and lets her have the victory. They’re ushered to their seats before the food can get cold; just the four of them. It turns the worst kind of pain in his chest when his mom grabs his hand and his dad pats Iris’s shoulder.

As he moves to grab the salad for his mom, his elbow knocks his water cup over, and in a blink of an eye, Iris grabs it before it can reach the ground. 

“Woah, careful there, Barry,” Iris teases. “I can only prevent so many disasters without my red suit.” 

Barry feels his mouth open and close several times - there’s the catch he was waiting for. 

“I was thinking,” Iris starts, inhaling deeply and lowering her eyes, as though she can’t quite look at his parents. “That I would visit my dad tomorrow. I know you have that annual holiday party, and really - you guys are the best family I could ask for, with the best friend in the world,” she pauses to give him a nervous smile, her eyes reflecting a deeper love than her words let on; a look he’s seen in his own reflection too often. “Jail isn’t the ideal place to spend Christmas, but my dad is alone and I would like to be there for him.” 

_My parents are alive_. _Iris is a meta-human. Joe is in jail.  
_

Zoom makes himself known at that moment, hovering through the living room window, out of view from everyone but that mocking grin is beckoning him. 

He allows himself the final seconds of this reality, to enjoy his mother’s smile and his father’s laugh and the way Iris looks at him, hoping that she understands by the way he looks at her too. 

Barry finally pushes up from his chair with an apology, because they will never understand how sorry he really is to abruptly leave them, and kisses his mother’s forehead. “I - I forgot something at work.” 

He has to get home, has to get back to his own family and life. 

While it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to leave each new dimension behind him, he knows these worlds are not for him; none are for him to enjoy. He’s going to handle Zoom, once and for all so that he can get back to the one world that is his alone. 

*

Barry has Zoom pinned to the floor, immobile and barely conscious. He has every intention to hand him to STAR Labs until Jay can make it back to Earth 2. He has to figure it out, though: what was Zoom trying to accomplish?

“Why did you do it?” Barry grits, his knee pushing harder into Zoom’s throat. “Why did you take me to those other Earths?” 

Zoom grins that smile Barry has learned to hate and says nothing. Barry rests more weight on his knee, bringing Zoom to a bloody cough fit. “Your powers, I needed them stronger for when I was ready take them from you.”

“How did that help anything? You sent me on a wild goose chase.” 

“You have so much to learn about your powers and the speed force,” Zoom smirks. “There are speedsters in every reality. Why is it that they’re not traveling to these others worlds?” 

Because they can’t. Barry certainly couldn’t until Zoom tested his hand and he was pushed to his limit. He was fueled by a need to stop Zoom once he snatched Patty from their date; it only became easier after every dimension he traveled through, after every interaction with - 

_Iris.  
_

“She is the key to everything I want from you.” The nasty, spine-curling tone of Zoom’s voice sounds like a threat, and Barry has half a mind to deliver another punch to his ribs. 

“But you took Patty,” Barry says. Why bring sweet Patty into any of this?

“She’s the perfect bait, poor thing. You care about her enough to follow me, but not enough to distract you from the plan,” Zoom explains, a deep chuckle starting. “Although, now I might kill both for the fun of watching your downfall.” 

Barry has little remorse for how Zoom’s ribs crunch under his hand.

*

Iris is a bit skeptical when Barry tells her about hopping through dimensions, but she doesn’t _not_ believe him - impossible is pretty much a tag line in Central City these days. “I don’t know what I would do if I had your powers, Barry. I’d probably mess with the force, or something like that.” 

“The force?” Barry snorts, accepting the quart of ice cream Iris hands him. She plops onto the couch beside him, feet propped onto the table. The hard work of their Christmas decorating is evident in the heavily ornamented tree, wreaths and lights along the walls, and the stockings that hang over the fireplace.

He showed up later than he promised - understandable, he thinks, given that he was chasing a psychopathic meta-human villain on different Earths - and they still managed to get it done in time for the Christmas party the next day.

“Yeah, you know,” Iris shrugs, digging her spoon into the ice cream. “ _May the force be with you_.” 

“That’s not how - ” Barry sighs. He doesn’t want to have to explain, _shouldn’t_ have to explain any Star Wars references; honestly, who doesn’t get how the force works? “Never mind. And who knows, I might have messed something up on those other worlds.” 

“Did you run into me, by any chance? I like to imagine that no matter where Iris West is, she’s still badass.” 

And the constant in his life. In every version of reality, it will always be Iris.

Barry hums. “In one world, that brownie obsession really catches up with you,” and it promptly earns him a hard wack to his arm. Iris leans into his side, taking in another mouthful of ice cream after battling his out of the way. This - this is the world he was meant to enjoy, with _his_ Iris. Only his.

 


End file.
